Ventriloquy
by Beloveddreamer
Summary: Jo and Alaric's wedding comes to a close in tragedy, but Bonnie Bennett is quickly finding out that the battle is nowhere near over. In fact, if Kai Parker has anything to say about it, and he does, it's just the beginning. Bonkai.
1. Day One of Twenty-Two Thousand

"Dear Elena, yep, halfway across Europe and they're… _still… drunk_."

"Is that really necessary?" Alaric scowled at her, one eyebrow raised.

"Elena told me to keep a journal of everything she's missing. When she wakes up in sixty-some years and finds out that Ric died from alcohol poisoning? She's gonna wanna know, what happened."

"Unless you tragically choke to death on those cocktail peanuts, then I can tell her myself!" Bonnie glared at Damon's glib reply, before packing up her things and walking away, saying her sarcastic goodbyes to the duo.

It was three weeks after what she had taken to calling the 'Red Wedding,' and Bonnie was thus far unimpressed. Rather than helping his best friend grieve and at least _attempt_ moving on, Damon was content to allow Alaric to drown his sorrows in bourbon, and vice versa.

Men.

Not that Bonnie wasn't sympathetic to their feelings, because she _was_. She was just extremely preoccupied with what had happened to her on that fateful day.

That battle had changed them all, ruined their collective lives, and now they were left to pickup the pieces of Kai Parker's temper tantrum.

In the grand scheme of things, Bonnie hadn't lost as much as everyone else had, and so she alternated between berating herself for being selfish, and then berating herself for not thinking of her own needs enough. Well okay, it wasn't really _her_ scolding herself for being a martyr, but that was a whole other story.

Still, Ric had lost his wife _and_ unborn children all in one fell swoop. There was no way her problems were as valid as his. He really had the worst luck with women. Tyler had lost Liv, who had turned out to not be _that_ bad, so Bonnie could definitely sympathise there, and Elena…

They'd all lost Elena.

And despite what everyone said to soften the blow, Bonnie knew it was her fault. Although logically she _knew_ it was Kai's fault, she also knew that she'd driven him to that point. She _could've_ forgiven him, given him that second chance he'd begged her for. But no, she'd had to be all tough-love for the first time in her life. Had to pick _that_ moment to stop being a pushover. So yes, no matter what Caroline, Jeremy, Stefan and everyone else said, she _was_ partly to blame.

But she could still hate Kai, and _wow_ did she hate him.

Never before had Bonnie considered bringing someone back to life just so she had the opportunity to kill him again, until Malachai Parker. She hadn't even despised Silas this much, and he killed her _dad._

' _Y'know, there's a fine line between love and hate, Bonster.'_

And there was her biggest problem. What she had been dealing with alone since that fateful wedding. The little immortal fucker was currently residing in her head.

Ignoring him to the best of her ability, as per usual, Bonnie continued walking through the throng of like-minded tourists who also wanted to rent a bike and see the city.

' _C'mon Bon-Bon, you can't ignore me forever. I'm too pretty for you to pretend I don't exist. Also, you're too pretty to be pretending I don't exist.'_

 _Don't react. Don't react. Don't react._

The words were repeated like a mantra through her head as she forked over 30 Euros, and hopped onto the bicycle with practiced ease.

' _Don't you want to yell at me? Release the anger you wear like a second perfume? Hmm?'_ If he didn't stop talking she was afraid she'd do just that, and she'd end up in a mental hospital, and if that happened, she would _never_ hear the end of it from Damon. Even if she did give in to her baser urges, she was almost positive it would be unsatisfying. After all, there was no actual body for her to throw a chair at or watch double over in pain. So snubbing him was pretty much all she had.

Riding through the glorious city of Amsterdam, Bonnie reflected on the absurdity of her life. It was always _something_ with them. Apparently sacrificing herself twice and losing everyone she loves wasn't enough, now she was stuck with multiple personality disorder. Kai had had no problems explaining things to her, either. He'd sounded almost –and thinking about it now, he probably was- proud of himself, of his 'superior cunning and intelligence' as he liked to put it.

Apparently as one last failsafe, the unparalleled-asshat had linked his soul –which she was still iffy on, because in her experience, Kai did _not_ have a soul- with her own, so that on the 'off-chance' –his words- his master plan actually failed, his consciousness would just be teleported to her own, meaning that she _still_ was not rid of him.

Talk about a contingency.

At first she'd just thought she was going through a similar crisis to Ric's The-One-Ring problem, and that all of her slips, trips and falls to the Other Side were finally taking their toll, and really, she probably would've preferred that, minus the killing her friends part.

So caught up in her musing, Bonnie only _just_ saw the signal to stop for the tram, and pulled herself to a screeching halt just in the nick of time.

' _Jesus Bon, drive much? You heard Damon; there are tram tracks all over this place, so let's not steer like a lunatic, mmkay? I don't need you dying on me_ just _yet.'_ Mumbling under her breath about taking her with him, she feigned a swerve into the path of an oncoming car, accelerating out of the way at the last second. He left her alone after that.

* * *

The near miss with the van is what drew him out again.

' _You two are as close as ever, I see.'_

Bonnie was freshening up in her hotel room when Kai finally broke his silence, and if she hadn't already been so used to his way of doing things, she probably would've dropped her hair dryer, and spent the next forty minutes towel-drying her curls.

Honestly, the most surprising thing about his appearance was just that it took him so long. That he waited until she was well away from Damon. He generally jumped on any opportunity to drive a wedge between her and Damon, normally at earliest convenience. Which meant…

"Where did you go?" Her question shocked herself, and if his silence was anything to go on, she'd stunned him pretty well too. She hadn't actually responded to any of his questions or comments since that first day, and now it was with horror that she realised what exactly she'd just done.

Attempting to play it off was apparently fruitless because standing in front of her bathroom mirror, she could already see the dread rising in her expression, and if she could _see_ it, then Kai could definitely feel it. Clamping her eyes shut in mortification –partly from breaking her vow of silence, partly because she was undressing-, Bonnie stepped into the lavish shower that she'd made sure was part of her hotel room. If Damon was paying, she was _definitely_ taking advantage of this trip.

' _I went to pay my respects to my deceased family. Their untimely passing came as quite a shock, and I was unable to attend the funeral.'_ She actually did slip that time, so lost in the calming spray of the hot water.

From her place on the tiled floor, she could hear Kai laughing gleefully at her, and she began to digest what he'd said. He'd _left_ _her head_. To visit his family's graves. In _Portland_.

' _Did you know that I don't have a plot in the family crypt? It's like they're- oops, sorry,_ were, _trying to disown me or something. Sissy has one though.'_ Bonnie felt bile rise in her throat. He was able to travel around at his own leisure, and was making jokes about his dead family. _'It got me thinking, y'know, 'if my body isn't here, with the rest of the Parker brood, where is it?'_

Of course he was still searching for it. He'd all but ordered her to tell him where Damon had buried his corpse when he first _'_ merged' with her, and when that proved fruitless, she'd felt him rifle through all of her memories of him, hoping to find one that provided him with some clue. Yep, not only did he apparently have free reign over where he spent his time, he could also view each of her memories as if they were pay-per-view, and did so regularly. Sometimes he'd even push them into the forefront of _her_ mind, asking her questions, or wanting some commentary other than just his own.

Grunting in effort, Bonnie finally pushed herself up off the floor, grabbing the shampoo as she did, before lathering it in her hair.

"Do I need to remind you that I have absolutely no idea what Damon did with your body? Let alone if he buried it or not?" She shouldn't be humoring him. She _really_ should not be acknowledging his presence at all, but apparently all the near-deaths of the day had given her a concussion, because she apparently couldn't stop herself, and was resigned to having an actual conversation with the monster in her head.

Bonnie wasn't even entirely sure of how this conversation really worked, either. She knew that if he wanted, he could peruse through her memories and thoughts _Animorphs_ style, but he couldn't control her actions or magic. _As far as you know._ Not helping, brain. She wasn't sure if he could hear _every_ thought she had, and just chose not comment on most of them, or if he only received those that she aimed at him.

' _The second one, for sure. So don't worry about me finding out about all your dirty little fantasies of me, and definitely feel free to keep them coming.'_ Well there's her answer. Brilliant. _'Also feel free to keep answering me out loud, that way everyone can assume just on principle that you've gone a bit loopy, maybe even need to be committed.'_ Yeah, okay, that was actually a valid point. Not to mention Damon would have a conniption if he overheard her talking to herself, only to find out she'd been hiding Kai- _freaking-_ Parker in her head for the past month. Not a conversation she wanted to have anytime soon.

' _The only fantasies I have about_ you, _Kai, are the ones where I guillotine you a second time.'_

He pretended to mull that over for a few seconds, before apparently reaching some brilliant conclusion, ' _But to do that, we first need to find my body, maybe hold an open casket funeral where everyone cries over the loss of someone with such a bright future. Since I don't have my own spot in the cemetery, I suppose I could always use Jo's, after all, she's not.'_

Bonnie shut off the shower and whipped her head in the direction of the mirror so quickly she wondered if _she_ had contracted vamp-speed. _'What are you talking about?'_

If his answering chuckle was anything to go by, he was definitely enjoying dangling information over her head.

' _Maybe you should ask your good pal Ric.'_

* * *

She'd been on the phone to Damon straight after getting dressed, telling him to stop fooling around –which she just kind of assumed he was doing- and find Ric before _she_ did, because she couldn't promise she wouldn't try to beat some sense into him.

She was _so_ fed up with the day so far. Why couldn't she just have one day to relax as much as the dynamic-death-duo had been doing for the past twenty-something? Was that really too much to ask?

' _You still_ could _have your day of vay-cay, y'know. Just let whatever happens, happen,'_ Was Kai's profound outlook on the whole situation. Easy for him to say, he hadn't had to care about another person ever in his life. Bonnie couldn't just do _nothing_ while her friend was suffering, and maybe even on the road to getting himself killed.

Not only that, but she was super peeved that he hadn't come to her with his idea first, choosing instead to go ask half-bit psychics? That stung in a way that she wasn't prepared to admit to anyone but herself. _'And me, of course.'_

Of course.

She ransacked her bag full of all the essentials she'd packed –tampons, hair brush, tooth brush and toothpaste, a pack of 10 maps of each city they'd been in, a small but extremely sharp knife, the works.

Emptying the required reagents onto the coffee table, Bonnie spread a map of Amsterdam over the surface, and prepared to spread the required powder over it. Just as she'd begun pouring, her phone flashed with Damon's name.

Answering it in aggravation, Bonnie put on a sickly-sweet voice that she hoped carried the message of _I-will-murder-you_ effectively. "This had better be important, Damon."

"I found him, Bon-Bon. Or well, I got hold of him, where he is on the other hand, is the part you won't be super hot on."

"Just get to the point, please." She was still using that same tone, and she could almost _see_ Kai's smirking face as she did.

"Y'know, you can't stay mad at me forever, Bonnie." She just scoffed at him, she _never_ stayed mad at him for as long as he deserved.

" _Damon."_

" _Alright._ We have to go back to Virginia. I've already advanced our tickets to get us on the next flight out."

Well he _was_ right; she didn't like the sound of that at all.

* * *

Apparently now that she'd actually conceded his presence, Kai was going to be relentless in his talkativeness. At least if his incessant chatter on the plane was any indication. Where before he had only bit out scathing or unhelpful –mostly unhelpful- commentary, he was now actually trying to make _small talk_. Luckily a ten-hour flight was a good excuse to go to sleep, thus putting an end to what was sure to have been _invigorating_ conversation. _As if._

After that though, she went back to ignoring all of his attempts to start a discussion, preferring instead to scheme with Damon about how they were going to kill one of the heretics tonight.

' _Diabolical, Bon. I'm proud.'_

She tried her hardest to ignore how proud he actually did sound, but it stuck with her all through the drive back to Whitmore, where just over an hour earlier, Damon had apologised, Bonnie had forgiven, and Kai had gagged.

' _No, really, you_ should _be pleased with yourself right now,'_ and of course he knew that she really was. _'It was a very Damon thing to do, a very_ me _thing to do. Apparently I've been a better influence on you than I first thought.'_ The guy really knew how to sour a mood.

He also knew which buttons to press. And that she'd stolen a bottle of Damon's bourbon.

"Oh yes, Kai. I hope you're super satisfied with yourself. You've driven me to murder. How admirable." Her words, which she spoke out loud because she was _just_ tipsy enough to not give a shit if anyone heard, lacked the bite that she'd _really_ hoped to convey, which just annoyed her further.

Grabbing her tumbler of whiskey and pouring another healthy –or unhealthy, depending on your perspective- portion into it.

' _It's not like you just up and killed some random passerby on the street, Bon, that heretic was the first to wake up and feed on me. I'm tempted to call what you did 'avenging me'.'_ If Kai had a corporeal body at that moment, Bonnie was almost 100% sure she would've stabbed him again.

' _Besides, even though Salva-tool thinks the whole thing was_ your _plan, it mostly came from me.'_ That was almost worse. And she was loath to admit that he was right.

She and Damon had been spit-balling ideas on how to take out the heretics, when Kai had piped in an idea of his own of her playing 'Bonnie-Bait,' and whilst she'd tweaked it slightly to give her own mind a bit of peace, she knew that it still meant she'd listened to him, and even agreed with him. That was scarier than any heretic could ever hope to be. Still the fact that it was Damon who carried the plan out, and Kai who'd originally thought it all up would help her sleep a bit better at night.

' _Now, about my payment.'_

Wait, _what?_

' _You didn't actually think I'd just freely give my help on solving your heretic dilemma did you? Come on, Bon. You're smarter than that.'_ Scoffing, Bonnie didn't even bother with clear, concise words, choosing instead to just blast him with an image of his imprisonment in her mind.

"I don't owe you anything, Kai. Especially not compensation for your 'services.'" Bonnie was cringing at the fact that she was even obliging this conversation, but was fully prepared to blame it on the bourbon.

' _Blaming others seems to be your specialty tonight.'_ Ouch.

' _Look, Bonnie, hear me out-'_

"What happened to _'Bonster'_?"

'Bonnie…' he _finally_ sounded as though she was getting to him. Good. _'I_ just _want my body back. Even the Turkish had a day of peace to bury the dead.'_ She almost couldn't believe he was comparing this to Gallipoli. Almost. _'Please just find it for me, then when I'm-'_

He cut off so abruptly that Bonnie considered that maybe the universe was finally trying to right itself, and had simply blinked him out of existence. But she knew that her life wasn't that fair, plus, she couldn't explain it, but she felt like she could sense his presence in her mind.

"When you're what, Kai _?"_ She threw back the last of the whiskey in her glass, before standing up from her bed to stare at herself in the mirror. She wanted him to see in her eyes just how fine a line he was treading.

' _Bon-'_ but she cut him off again

"What aren't you telling me, _Malachai_?"She demanded through gritted teeth. This was a look she normally reserved for her idiot best friend when he did something particularly stupid, but if the shoe fits…

' _Y'know I normally hate that name, but when_ you _say it, it's actually kinda hot.'_

"Kai!" she was yelling now, and she _still_ didn't give a damn, "What did you do?!"

' _I can come back!'_

Bonnie swore that she stopped breathing in that moment.

' _If I reunite with my body, fully reattached, of course, I can transfer my psyche back into it, and be a walking, talking vampire-witch hybrid again.'_

Logically, Bonnie was aware that it was utterly impossible, because he _couldn't_ control her body, but as she stared in horror at her reflection, she was almost positive that the ghost of his signature smirk-slash-eyebrow raise could be seen peeping out from within her face.

In an uncharacteristic fit of rage, Bonnie let loose what Damon would refer to as a battle cry, and then slammed her fist into the mirror, watching in satisfaction as the glass shattered, not caring about her knuckles being sliced up in the process.

Leaning forward and finding her gaze again through the cracked reflection, she narrowed her eyes and bit out in the darkest tone she'd ever heard herself use, "Listen to me _very_ , carefully, _Malachai_ ," which she found was an _extremely_ pleasing way to taunt him, because regardless of how 'hot' he said it sounded, he would always despise it more, "I will never, _ever,_ let you resurrect yourself, and I certainly won't do it for you. I would sooner kill us both than bring you back, at least then Elena would be alive again." The vehemence in her tone might've surprised her two years ago, but lately, she found herself _thriving_ on that type of anger.

After a few moments of absolute radio silence from her 'house guest,' Bonnie shrugged to herself, hoping he'd finally taken the hint and cleared out. Still panting, the adrenaline began leaving her body in a rapid decline, and when it was all gone she found herself shaking.

Looking at the mess she'd made of her and Caroline's bathroom, Bonnie swept all the broken shards into the trash, before painstakingly picking the glass out of her hand, and splashing it with some of the bourbon she had left. It hurt, but the alcohol she had already drunk helped numb it, and within minutes of first starting, she was searching for the bandages she just _knew_ were somewhere in her medicine cabinet.

Without meaning to, Bonnie became caught up in a photo of her and Elena that was sitting on the hand basin. God she missed her. This wasn't fair. In her drunken haze, Bonnie found herself being compelled to do what she'd threatened to Kai, and just kill herself. Get her death out of the way so that everyone could be happy with the one who actually deserved it.

' _It always comes back to what's best for Elena, doesn't it? God forbid you just stop trying to save everyone and put yourself first for once.'_ The words hit home and brought up every insecurity she'd had in the past few years. Unbidden, tears sprung to her eyes, and she touched the photo with a sad smile. _'Well take it from me,_ Bon-Bon; _it might just be time to start. The heretics are going to vengeful after tonight's escapades, and pretty soon you're going to need all the help you can get.'_

Feeling a soft tingling on her hand, Bonnie looked down with wide eyes; watching as the jaggedly cut skin begin knitting itself back together.

' _If I were you, Bon, I'd ask Damon where he hid my body.'_

* * *

 _ **Well, that's it for chapter 1.  
** **This is my first TVD fanfic on this website, and I**_ **really _hope I did Bonnie and Kai justice, and that they don't seem too OOC._**

If you weren't able to pick it up from the context:

 _Italicised sentences_ are thoughts

 _Italicised_ words are emphasised

 _'Italicised and apostrophe'd'_ sentences are thought speak, and  
regularly written words during _'thought speak'_ are also emphasised.

 _ **Ciao for now. Xx**_


	2. Never Let Me Go

**Chapter 2**

 **Never Let Me Go**

* * *

The Phoenix Stone. That was Ric's brilliant idea. Some ugly, red rock that had more than likely been used as a paperweight more than once in its life. And he wanted Bonnie to resurrect Jo with it. Or at least, he'd finally _decided_ that he wanted her to. A month after being back.

She'd had a feeling it was too good to be true when she'd first seen it, but because she didn't want to let such a broken man down by just dismissing the idea, she'd decided to give it the old college try. That was mistake number one.

"What are you doing?" Alaric asked as Bonnie closed her eyes and clasped the stone in her palms.

"Sometimes witches will conceal a powerful talisman or relic, by hiding the magic inside of it."

She had then begun channeling the stone, hoping that it would draw that magic that Ric was banking on being in it, out to the surface. Mistake number two.

Mistake number three came in the form of the self-proclaimed 'mega-powerful-expert-in-all-things-witchy-woo' jerk that lived in the cupboard under the stairs. But that wasn't until later.

Kai had disappeared sometime during the previous night, and she hadn't heard from him since. In one way, she was extremely glad to have the peace back, but the flipside of that coin was that she had no way of being sure of what he was up to, which, knowing him, was probably all things dastardly and sinister. Or maybe she really _was_ going to have one day free from drama, and it was something that wouldn't result in another heretic-related death.

Like speed-dating.

Bonnie snorted at the thought of Kai Parker telling a girl about himself in sixty seconds or less, considering he wasn't able to do an on-the-spot villain speech in that amount of time without someone literally killing him.

Ric looked at her weirdly but she just cleared her throat, pretending that everything was A-Okay on her end, and went back to focusing on the stone.

The fireplace flaring to life was what signaled the impending doom that they were about to be faced down with.

In the span of what was probably about ten seconds, but felt like ten lifetimes, Bonnie was privy to the most amount of anguish she'd ever felt in her life. Flashes upon flashes of horrific images had her wishing for death, and she was sure the stone was more than willing to oblige. A voice shouting in her ear was telling her to let go, but she found that she couldn't move any of her muscles the way she wanted to.

By the time she snapped out of it, Bonnie was gasping for air. Looking into Ric's concerned eyes, she began spouting off talk of dropping the Phoenix Stone into hydrofluoric acid – um, what? – And simultaneously ushering Alaric out the door. With a wave of her hand, all curtains were open and sunlight streamed through. She was still shaking on and off, but felt marginally safer, confident that whatever else happened today, it couldn't be worse than _that._

And then her phone rang, and Murphy's Law proved her wrong for what by now had to be the six hundredth time.

* * *

When Kai had first woken up after Jo's sham of a wedding, he'd been extremely confused. He was lying down on an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room, and he _couldn't get up._ Then suddenly he could. Only, he didn't actually _want to_ anymore.

He certainly wasn't in the mood to speak to Damon Salvatore, but his body didn't seem to care. He also couldn't remember a time when Dimwit Salva-bore ever actually looked at him with an expression other than malice; rather, it was almost a look of admiration, or his own voice being that feminine.

Had he really hit his head _that_ hard?

Kai _knew_ he was forgetting something important; he just couldn't for the life of him work out what it was. In fact, it had taken a lot longer than he cared to admit for him to finally remember.

If it was weird that Damon wasn't actively trying to kill him, it was even stranger that the hunter wasn't. For what Kai had done to Jo, he expected Ric to at least try to _maim_ him with something from his bag of BDSM that he carried everywhere. But no, they were both content to just walk down the streets of some European city without a care in the world.

It was when someone said _her_ name that everything had come back to him.

Bonnie. The wedding. The back-up plan. _Fuck._

He'd failed. Again. Fan _tastic_.

After _that_ particular revelation, it was like a veil had been lifted, and suddenly Kai had access to every thought and memory that Bonnie had ever had, or was in the process of having. She was laid out like an open book, complete with a contents page _and_ index, and Kai had never had so much fun reading.

The cheerleader days were some of his favourites, although if he had to watch-slash-hear-slash-remember another minute of human 'Care-Bear,' he couldn't be held responsible for whatever unfortunate soul he killed.

But still, the memories were great, and the random comments that made Bonnie jump were even better.

But nothing compared to the magic.

Never had Kai had such a stable source of magic in his life, not even during his brief stint as a heretic. Bonnie didn't just exude magic, she _was_ magic. It was everywhere in her.

And now it was _his_.

He couldn't use it in the traditional way. He couldn't even use it in his normal, abnormal way. He was still siphoning it from her body, but then storing it in a separate pocket in her body, since he didn't have one of his own. It was never _actually_ leaving her, so it didn't drain her, and once in that gift-wrapped box complete with a red bow on top, it was like a rechargeable battery. It was the ultimate form of siphoning, and Kai wasn't sure if he actually _wanted_ to give that up anymore. He just had to tap a vein in her, and the magic was his.

That she hadn't worked it out yet was just the cherry on top.

The only downside was that she had to cast the spells for him, because he wasn't _actually_ corporeal.

Because he couldn't actually hold the magic _himself_ – that's what the containers were for – and he didn't want Bonnie to know what he was trying to do by asking her, he had to _make_ her.

Not that she knew that either.

Honestly, the poor thing really had the worst luck when it came to all things supernatural.

She was only twenty-something, and had already died twice, and risen from the dead each time with an even shittier brand of loneliness than before. Not that she could even hope to compete with _his_ fucked up life, but he could appreciate the similarities.

He was also _super_ over hearing about the Doppel-Gilbert, and everything that everyone was willing to sacrifice for her.

Honestly, he'd done the lot of them a favour with his little Sleeping Beauty curse.

Speaking of, Kai couldn't quite work out why Bonnie hadn't yet asked him about how to break that spell yet. Sure, she'd been steadfastly ignoring him since finding out about him being her new roomie, but he'd been expecting to be getting slapped with that particular Elena-sized problem for at least the next year or so. He'd _really_ hoped for a magical tantrum of catastrophic proportions.

He'd wanted – needed – to see Bonnie's magic go completely haywire, for her to lose all semblance of control. Kai had some _very_ compelling memories of her little dance with Expression to play on a loop, but they weren't _nearly_ enough. He wanted to see her go crazy.

As crazy as she'd made him.

He'd had a pretty shitty time since meeting the Bennett witch. In fact, it almost made him miss the 1994 Prison World. The way one might miss a beloved family pet, or a twin sister that they'd gutted with a hunting knife.

Y'know, fondly.

He didn't even regret the wedding massacre, he just hated that he had lost to the Merry Mystic Falls gang. Although, lulling them into a false sense of victory and then ripping the rug right out form under was a seriously agreeable thought.

He was _very_ eager to see Damon Salvatore's expression when he learned that Kai had been living in the mind of his best friend for _months_ without knowing.

None of them had any idea of what Kai Parker was capable of, but he was more than willing to demonstrate.

* * *

Kai woke up at the same time as every other morning; when Bonnie did. He wasn't even entirely sure that he _needed_ to sleep, but he sure hated being at the whim of a Bennett.

Breakfast with Bonnie, as well as sounding like a great talk-show name, was always amusing to Kai. Her mind went through a flurry of thoughts as she poured a bowl of cereal for herself, muttering to herself about this or that. He still hadn't seen her eat pancakes.

Sometimes he chose moments such as these to blurt some random fact out, maybe let out a quiet 'boo!' in the hopes of getting a rise from her, but that had stopped working after the third or fourth time. So instead, Kai had taken to exercising his abilities with his borrowed Bennett magic.

Today was one of those days.

As she munched on whatever hi-fiber cereal she'd had in the pantry, Kai closed his eyes – or what he envisioned were his eyes – and allowed his mind (?) to clear of all thoughts, Bonnie-or-otherwise related. Taking a deep breath, he began imagining – willing – his ability to siphon flaring into action.

And flare it did.

As Bonnie shuffled around the actually decent-sized dorm, Kai tried ushering the incantation for this particular spell into her subconscious. It was similar to the one he'd practiced in Amsterdam, just with more solid formations.

Bonnie was already on her way to her first class of the day – Occult studies, _really?_ – So Kai began chanting in his own head with a ferocity he normally reserved for murder.

 _Proiectura autem spiritus anima. Proiectura autem spiritus anima._

Again and again until it echoed in her mind, too. She didn't know she was thinking it, and if through some miracle she actually became aware, she still wouldn't know why.

It was almost too easy.

Except it was an absolute _bitch_ to do.

This particular spell required only a small portion of magic, something a relatively decent-trained six year old could do if they were determined enough, but when you don't technically exist, forcing another witch to do a spell they'd never even heard before – because it's a Gemini spell, _duh_ – was the equivalent of cloaking an entire town.

Good thing he was mega-powerful.

Still, it knocked enough energy out of him that he blacked out for a few minutes, which was long enough for Bonnie to have gotten to her class and taken her seat, smiling at Ric as he greeted the rest of his students. If Kai weren't already nauseas from passing out, he would be after that.

Finally, _finally,_ Kai managed to get Bonnie's psyche to cooperate with the spell – honestly, it hadn't been even _nearly_ this difficult last time – and it was with a smirk on his now-existent face and a silent _fuck-you_ to his father that Kai took his first steps away from Bonnie for the first time in months.

Stepping in front of his host-body and feeling very _The Exorcist_ , he waved a hand in front of Bonnie's face, testing whether or not she could see him. She couldn't, but if he focused intently, he could still make out a few of her thoughts, which was good enough for him. He was free for the next couple of hours. _Astral projection. God, I'm good._

Whistling, Kai jumped down off the theatre-style seats, tipping an invisible hat to Alaric, marveling at having his own sort of physical body that he could control again.

 _Speaking of bodies_ , he thought with a smirk, _I have places to be._

He had tested out a similar type of magic in Amsterdam, where he was more of an invisible ball of energy rather than a tangible person, and found that whilst the places he could go were limitless – one thought and _poof!_ Disneyworld, Florida – the timeframe was not. The more he zone-jumped, the quicker his battery would dwindle

He had to hurry.

The first thing he did was revisit his family's plot in one of Portland's many cemeteries. He didn't know which, and he didn't care.

Finding an absence of his and Jo's corpse – not that he'd expected either to be there – Kai quickly jumped to Mystic Falls, knowing Damon had a penchant for burying bodies in shallow graves, that any determined/compelled human with a shovel could dig up. It was very considerate of him, really.

Kai would have to buy him a gift basket upon his proper resurrection. Or, preferably, a bouquet of white lilies to decorate the grave he would shortly thereafter inhabit. Desiccation by suffocation sounded like the perfect way to torture Damon during Elena's nap. Or maybe a different type of floral arrangement, since the last Lily that had been presented before Damon ended up getting his girlfriend magically coma'd.

Maybe he should get flowers for Elena's coffin, too? _Eh, one thing at a time._

Returning to the task at hand, Kai found the Salvatore crypt vacant of his corpse, or any corpse, actually. Either Damon had developed a brain since their last interaction or – and far more likely – Elena had been stolen.

Fucking karma, Salvatore.

Knowing there wasn't even slightly enough time to search the forest for any graves that may have popped up in the past two months, Kai flickered to the foyer of the Salvatore Boarding House, just in time to see Lily's-not-lover – who cares what his name is? – Moping into a glass of scotch in the library.

Avoiding that room entirely, Kai searched the rooms upstairs, Damon's first, and then Stefan's, where the blonde cheerleader was strung up like a pig.

Carolyn? Coroline? _Rachel?_ Had been just a _bit_ too uppity for his tastes, so he couldn't really find the willpower to care about her imminent torture.

Besides, they wouldn't kill her with – Eddie? Erol? Enca? – The _Brit_ , in the house, so Kai wasn't obligated to warn Bonnie about her friend. She'd be fine.

…

 _But._

A part in his mind that was definitely more Luke than Kai had him blasting a quick protection spell over Blondie, with a sinister kick that he just couldn't resist adding, if only to prove to himself that he was still the same charming psycho-killer he'd always been. _Enjoy touching your sweetheart, sweetheart._

That sorted, Kai crept along the halls of the stupidly large house, until he came to the cells in the basement, and after a thorough check of the entire floor, as well as the rest of the house, that nearly had him breaking doors in frustration, Kai was forced to concede that his body just _wasn't there._

A scream from the wing that Stefan's bedroom resided in had him wincing before he could stop himself. _Fucking Luke. Stupid merge. Better off dead._ Not that it was _actually_ Luke telling him to react to stuff like that happening, it was more like he had just turned his proverbial humanity switch on, and now had emotional indigestion. Too much murder made his chest tight, and he would find it a bit harder to breathe than normal.

At first the merge had deeply affected Kai's sociopathic standing, because apparently there was only so far that Luke was willing to go with some things. Eventually the split personalities had tapered out, and Kai found he was _mostly_ back to his fun-loving self. Except for moments like this.

Apparently the torture of someone only objectively guilty just wasn't something his mind could handle very well anymore.

Another scream tore through his consciousness, sounding _much_ closer this time, and Kai fell to his knees at the intensity of emotion that welled up within him. _That was_ not _the cheerleader._

Looking left and right, he found himself toppling over again as a cry of pain sounded in his ears, and seemed to go right through his head. That should _definitely_ not be happening.

Standing up and trying to find the source of what or whoever was dying, Kai caught his reflection in one of the many mirrors the Salvatores owned in the name of vanity, and did a double take as he noticed the blood making a merry path from his eyes down his cheeks.

 _That's probably not good_. _This body isn't even real. The only reason I'd be bleeding_ here _is if Bonnie were–_ Kai jumped to her location without a second thought.

Furrowing in his eyebrows in confusion, Kai looked up and down the street, his eyes landing on Donovan's house. _What is she doing_ here?He brushed aside the possessive jealousy that was counterproductive at present, promising himself he'd punish her mercilessly for it later on. Once he had deemed her 100% banter-ready, of course.

Taking the small flight of steps in one impressive leap, Kai landed on the porch of the house and immediately froze. Bonnie was out cold on the deck, shuddering every few seconds, blood trailing down her face in an identical fashion to his own. _Well that's not ideal._

 _She's not dead. She's not dead. She's not dead._

Another jolt proved his point rather well, and he snapped out of his stupor, blinking in front of her without another thought. Disregarding Matt's lifeless body, with no explanation required, Kai reached out his hands to clasp her face, to slap her, shake her, scream at her, torture her, to Sleeping-Beauty kiss her awake if that's what it took.

But he couldn't.

His hands slipped straight through her, and for the first time in months Kai felt truly helpless again. It was like he was stuck back in the 1903 prison world, except this time he was actually worried about someone else. That wouldn't do at all. Taking a deep breath, Kai focused instead on re-entering her mind where she could at least _hear_ him, but found himself being blocked.

 _Fuck._

Real panic overtook him as he began yelling at her, blaming her for whatever was happening, before moving over to Donovan and giving him the same treatment.

Bonnie was not allowed to die.

Not even just because it would kill him too, something he hadn't shared with her, but because he still had many, _many_ years worth of punishment in store for her. She wasn't permitted to cheat her way out of that. Hadn't been given a thumbs-up on leaving him _again._ He wouldn't allow it.

He was full-blown screaming at her by now, and wasn't entirely sure of what he was saying. It didn't even matter.

Vaguely aware that he had moisture dripping down his face that was too cool to be blood, he scoffed at the thought of crying over this stupid little witch. _Over_ my _stupid little witch_ , he corrected without thinking. That's right. She was _his_ , and he didn't give her permission to die.

Nodding his head slightly, he attempted grabbing her face again and was stunned when his hands complied with his mind, latching around her hair and tilting her head towards him. Eyes peeping open slightly to reveal only whites, as though she'd gone blind.

He reacted without thought, immediately siphoning from her and crying out himself when he was pulled into her mind with such force that he must've contracted whiplash.

The flashes playing through her mind were grotesque in an artsy way, and if he weren't so overcome with exhaustion and relief, he might've taken the time to appreciate the work of a fellow knife expert. Those crosses were _so symmetrical._ Although, they seemed to scare her, rather than comfort her like they did with him. _Weird._

But still, she was alive, just unconscious.

He had been able to interact in his own body for a moment there.

 _Well if that's not progress._

Quickly browsing through her freshest memories to find _why_ she had been laying on the ground, he found himself groaning at her ever-increasing, eternal martyrdom.

' _Hey Bon, next time you decide to go on a suicide mission, even if it's not yourself you're planning on killing and reviving, a heads up would be nice.'_ She didn't respond, not that he expected her to; some people just couldn't handle the responsibility of magic. Good thing Kai Parker was around to save the day.

Speaking of, Matt was still blissfully dead, with only a couple minutes on the clock remaining. Thank god someone had finally put him out of everyone's collective misery.

He was _such_ a drag.

Planning on voicing his opinion to Bonnie, he opened his mouth to speak as he normally would, and was surprised to hear Bonnie's haughty tone come out instead.

He looked down, once again in shock over the fact that he _could_ , and wiggled his – or rather, _Bonnie's_ – fingers in front of his – Bonnie's – face, wonder crossing his – her – expression.

' _What's going on? Why can't I move my head?'_

Oh, this was just too good.

"Well, Bon. It seems that we've just Freaky Friday'd our positions in your mind, probably because of how weak you currently are. Your ancestors probably realised how much more suited I am to being you at this moment, at keeping their precious bloodline intact, and gave me control. I am, after all, _much_ stronger than you." For some reason Kai's cocky tone on Bonnie's voice just wasn't as satisfying, and he found himself trying to mimic a famous judgy-Bennett expression in the window's reflection.

' _Wait, is that Matt?'_ She sounded alarmed. Not that he cared.

"Yep," he dragged the 'ye' and popped the 'p' just to be annoying. It was a talent of his, regardless of the body he inhabited.

' _You have to bring him back!'_ Ah, there it is.

"I most certainly do not. I believe you're forgetting that you have _no_ control over this situation. _You_ are the one who fucked up here, Bon, and truthfully, I'm kind of itching to see you try to explain this one to your friends. How your arch-nemesis took over your body and refused to save your childhood friend. Oh, but wait, they don't _know_ about me. And you aren't going to tell them." He knew she wouldn't. Admitting that she was hosting him would completely break the shaky trust she and Damon had with each other, and if she lost another person, she would _break._

'Please, _Kai. I'm_ begging _you. I'll do whatever you want. I'll-'_

He knew what she was about to say, about to promise, and he inwardly patted his back at how good he still was at subtle blackmail.

' _I'll bring you back._ ' She spoke with more conviction in that one sentence than he had ever heard before from her. He was right; being the cause of a friend's death, with nobody to blame but herself, because it _was_ her fault, would shatter her.

"Well Bonnie, you have yourself a deal. And I _will_ collect."

Repeating the spell that Bonnie whispered to him, Kai watched as Matt lurched forward, gasping for breath. A tad too dramatic for his tastes, considering the lack of audience, but he still gave a score of 7/10 for flair, he wasn't a _complete_ monster after all.

Taking Bonnie's body back to Whitmore was hilarious fun, because he purposely spoke out loud to her, earning strange looks from everyone he passed.

Once in the confines of their shared dorm room, Kai relinquished control to her, feeling far too exhausted to bother with his usual banter, sensing that she was much the same, and chose instead to just jump straight under the bed covers. He muttered a few words about how she should _not_ set an alarm, and just let them both wake up naturally, before pulling the both of them into a blissful coma-like state of dreams.

* * *

 **Sorry about the wait! Real life got in the way, and I just couldn't seem to word this chapter correctly until today while procrastinating assignments. I'm pretty happy with how things turned out but would love to hear your opinions too!**

 **Until next time xx**


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